R.I. tribe seeks to halt local casino

Thursday

Aug 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMAug 30, 2007 at 4:28 PM

Pokanoket Wampanoags say the tribe attempting to build a Middleboro casino is invading their historic territory.

By Kyle Alspach

A leader of a Rhode Island-based Indian tribe is campaigning against the Mashpee Wampanoags' plan to build a casino in Middleboro, contending that the plans are an intrusion by one tribe onto another tribe's historic lands.

Michael Weeden, president of the Pokanoket Wampanoag tribe, asserts that southeastern Massachusetts is the historic territory of his tribe alone and the Mashpee Wampanoags have been restricted to Cape Cod. He called it "culturally insensitive" for the Mashpee tribe to seek to locate tribal land and a casino in Middleboro.

"I'm not against the Mashpee having a casino, but I don't feel they ought to be doing it on our lands," Weeden said. "It's just not proper in Indian country to do something like that."

The Pokanokets, who are based in Bristol, R.I., profess to be descended from the tribe of Massasoit and Metacom, the tribe that famously aided and fought the European settlers in the 17th century.

Unlike the Mashpee tribe, the Pokanoket Wampanoags are not a federally recognized tribe, but Weeden said the tribe is seeking that status. He believes the Pokanokets will have their opinion heard on the Middleboro casino when it comes before the state and federal governments for review in coming months.

The tribe has already sent letters of protest to officials, including Gov. Deval Patrick and the head of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

One casino expert said the tribe's challenge could affect the outcome of the Middleboro casino proposal.

Clyde Barrow of UMass-Dartmouth said the Bureau of Indian Affairs will definitely take the claims into consideration.

At the very least, this will add extra time to the approval process, he said.

"The BIA will have to determine whether or not (the claims) are accurate," said Barrow, who studies casinos through his Center for Policy Analysis.

A spokesman for the Mashpee Wampanoags said the tribe is meeting all the requirements for locating sovereign tribal land in Middleboro.

"The Mashpee are a federally recognized tribe, and by the rules of the BIA they are taking land within 50 miles radius of their tribal headquarters in Mashpee," said spokesman Scott Ferson.

He said he was not familiar with the Pokanoket tribe and its claims about the history behind the Middleboro land.

The protests of the Pokanokets come as Patrick is preparing to announce in early September whether he supports legalizing casinos in Massachusetts.

If he approves, the governor will also have to decide whether to negotiate a deal with the Mashpee Wampanoags, which might involve securing some of the casino's revenues for the state in exchange for exclusive casino operating rights.

Weeden said he hopes Patrick will refuse to negotiate with the Mashpee tribe.

The Pokanokets, Weeden added, are not seeking to open a casino. Weeden said his tribe of about 300 people is more interested in land preservation, not development.

The fact that the Mashpee have casino ambitions for Pokanoket land is a "strong indication the Mashpee tribe has lost sight of its own heritage and tradition," Weeden wrote in his letter to officials.

Weeden said he hopes the Mashpee tribe will realize that what it is doing is an affront to the Pokanokets and "against the natural order of things."

"It was never proper, ever, for a tribe to claim another tribe's lands as their territory," he said.

Kyle Alspach of The Enterprise (Brockton, Mass.) can be reached at kalspach@enterprisenews.com.